Materials

Miniature Painting

Islamic miniature painting is generally understood to mean small paintings that are or once were part of a manuscript, used as a frontispiece or an illustration for a text. Drawings and individual paintings have, however, also been preserved. They were either sketches or were intended to be placed as independent works of art in an album.

The miniatures usually had a paper base, but cardboard and in rare cases cotton or silk cloth were also used. The brilliant colors are usually opaque.

The oldest preserved miniature paintings were made in around the year 1000, but not until around 1200 were they found in larger numbers. Islamic miniature painting is often categorized rather summarily into four regional schools: the Arab, the Persian, the Indian, and the Ottoman Turkish.

Miniature from a copy of al-Sarai’s Nahj al-Faradis (The Paths of Paradise). “The Prophet Muhammad Meets Malik at the Gates of Hell” (recto)

Iran, Herat; c. 1465
Leaf: 41.1 × 29.7 cm

The museum’s five other paintings from this Timurid manuscript illustrate the Prophet Muhammad’s encounters with angels on his way to Paradise and depict its gates.

In this miniature, Muhammad has continued his journey. He is shown with eyes lowered as he is met by Malik, the gatekeeper to Hell (Jahannam), who is armed with a club, and Gabriel, who looks rather downcast. They stand on either side of the red Gates of Hell, beyond which we can see its eternally blazing flames.

The reverse shows the Prophet and Gabriel inside Hell), where they behold the terrifying Zaqqum Tree and sinners whose tongues are being cut out by demons with red skin.